Abstract
Recent geological evidence1,2 suggests that several degrees of true polar wandering have occurred since the mid-Pliocene. This rotational instability is supported by dynamical calculations3 of the spin axis of a layered viscoelastic Earth, which has been subjected to the periodic forcings characteristic of the late Cenozoic ice age. We propose here that polar wandering, induced by the intrinsic response of the viscoelastic planet to such cryospheric forcings, may be the underlying cause for the termination of the present ice age epoch.
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Sabadini, R., Yuen, D. & Boschi, E. Interaction of cryospheric forcings with rotational dynamics has consequences for ice ages. Nature 296, 338–341 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/296338a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/296338a0
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